Growing up circa 1980‘s – early 1990’s, there weren’t a whole lot of games that one could play on the school computers. There was one game, however, that has been seared into the minds of all of us from that era – Oregon Trail. Developed in 1971 and intended as an educational game to help children learn about the early settlers in the western United States, the game put players in the front seat of a wagon leader in 1848. After nearly 50 years, one of the game’s original creators says he’d like to re-imagine the game from the perspective of Native Americans.

During this year’s Game Developers Conference (GDC), there was a classic games postmortem panel in which Oregon Trail co-creator Don Rawitsch participated. Several questions were asked about the game, including one question about what he would do differently if he were making the game in this era. Rawitsch replied:

“If I were to create something like Oregon Trail today, I would create the Native American version,” Rawitsch said. “What would it be like on the other side of the wall, so to speak?”

During the panel at GDC the developer talked about how terribly misrepresented the Native Americans were in Hollywood films, which depicted them as savages that preyed on innocent travelers. Rawitsch stated that during his research while creating Oregon Trail, he read journals and diaries of the early pioneers that painted a much different picture of the Natives. During his analysis, he found that Native Americans were more apt to help travelers navigate the unknown territories and would often give advice on which areas were the best to hunt animals for food and which plants were safe to eat.

Rawitsch said that if the game were being made today that he would like to see a multiplayer focused game. Players could take on an individual role or be part of a group. Each decision made by an individual while grouped up would essentially effect the entire group as a whole. Imagine players taking different routes as they traverse through undiscovered territory, and yes, still die of dysentery. Rawitsch stated:

“Imagine being in a wagon train with a bunch of people you don’t know. I would love to see what social dynamics come out of that.”

Sounds like it could be an interesting experience. Being grouped up with people you don’t know and don’t trust and having to rely on them to survive would make for some intense gaming, don’t you think? What do you think an Oregon Trail game would look like if made today? Do you think Rawistch is onto something with the multiplayer aspect? Which one of you is going to start the crowd funding to get this started? Let us know in the comments section below, or start a conversation about it on our official Disqus channel. Be sure to follow us on Twitter to catch the hottest gaming news live 24/7.